Section three The use of force and restraint Eight years later, the physical restraint of children in secure accommodation remains a contentious issue and one closely monitored by members of the NPM. In particular, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC), which has a broad power to enter any premises where children are cared for, has sought to promote a children’s rights-based approach to restraint. In 2011–12, OCC published a report on the emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people in the youth justice system.9 This report was partly based on a series of visits to establishments where children are detained (including STCs, young offender institutions (YOIs), children’s homes and secure mental health facilities). During those visits, OCC found a tendency by staff to rely on physical controls to manage risk and deal with challenging behaviour rather than focusing on the development of positive relationships with children. OCC also noted inconsistencies between establishments on procedures and practice on restraint, with variation in the frequency with which it was used. In only two of the 11 establishments visited did children indicate that restraint was rare; in all others, children referred to restraint as an everyday experience. In one STC, OCC noted that a spike in the number of restraints had been driven by a change in staff rotas that resulted in young people being locked in their cells for longer. ‘It happens every day, three or four times. Sometimes they deserve it but some [staff] just do it ‘cos they can’t be bothered to sort things out.’ 15-year-old boy in a secure training centre Restraint was used less frequently in small establishments with high staff-child ratios and where staff were well-trained and supported. In these establishments, children said they felt cared for. In 2011–12, OCC also submitted evidence to the UN Human Rights Council in advance of the Council’s review of the extent to which the UK has implemented its human rights obligations. OCC recommended that the law should provide that restraint may only be used to prevent harm to the child or others. It also recommended that the deliberate use of pain as a restraint technique be prohibited. This recommendation has been echoed by HMIP and follows comments by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that authorities should: ‘... minimise the necessity to use restraint and to ensure that any methods used are safe and proportionate to the situation and do not involve the deliberate infliction of pain as a form of control.’ 10 In July 2012, the Ministry of Justice published details of a new system of physical restraint for use in STCs and YOIs in England and Wales. Although it does not prohibit paincompliance techniques, OCC has welcomed the new system’s focus on de-escalation and using restraint as a last resort. The relevant NPM members will monitor the implementation of the new system of restraint in the coming year. OCC, ‘I think I must have been born bad’. Emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people in the youth justice system ( June 2011). 10 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8: The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment (arts. 19; 28, para. 2; and 37, inter alia) (2006) at paragraph 15. 9 21